


Believe Me Natalie

by dontoverthinkthis



Category: Original Work
Genre: Absolutely NOTHING sexual, Bittersweet Ending, Drama, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, Falling In Love, Family Drama, Insanity, Love, References to Depression, Romantic Soulmates, Running Away, Superpowers, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29639820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontoverthinkthis/pseuds/dontoverthinkthis
Summary: Natalie was a strange girl who ran away from a family who wished she didn’t exist and fell in love with a convenience store worker at first sight.Bailey was barely holding onto life, and all of her dreams seemed to be failing before her eyes. She didn’t even care about Natalie’s presence. Until she became her inspiration and encouraged her to live again.This is a story of two girls who fell in love.
Relationships: Natalie Springfield/Bailey Campbell, Original Female Character/Original Female Character





	Believe Me Natalie

“She’s not like us, Father.” 

The old man-he was old because he was 62 years old, and his black hair was streaked with grey, but it was from stress and hard work rather than age-related-sighed and nodded in agreement, tapping the excess ash off his expensive cigar. Everything about him declared he was important-his robe was made out of the finest, richest maroon velvet, his pajamas underneath were a royal blue silk, and his pristine white slippers were made of wool farmed from Icelandic sheep and hand-made. The cigars he smoked covered approximately 4 to 5 cups of the average person’s weekly coffee. 

“I know, she’s not,” the old man huffed, coughing slightly-again, from stress and not due to the cigars his daughter constantly hampered him for smoking. “But I don’t give up.” 

“You say that as if you haven’t already,” his oldest daughter said sarcastically. Constantina-or as her father fondly called her, Teeny-was 32 years old. She was a tall woman who carried herself and acted as if she were the most important person in the room. She wore her medium brown hair which she wore to her shoulders with blunt-bangs hiding her neatly trimmed and carefully styled eyebrows. Her suit was made in the Philippines and her shoes were made in Italy. Her hands gripped each other tensely as she looked at her father with her intensely cold blue eyes, daring him to say differently-disagree with her. 

Her father looked at her and sighed again. “You’re right. I’ve given up,” he admitted. To make such an admission-especially to his equally if not more proud daughter-was shameful for him.

“It’s not a bad thing, Father,” spoke up his son. Franklin-Franky, when his family was feeling drunk, jovial or mocking-was 28 years old, and while he had the pride of his family, he could be more tactful than Constantina. “Sometimes, you must give up for the sake of your own sanity.”

His father gave him a look of mixed emotion, of both consternation and reluctance. “Giving up is something this family doesn’t do,” he insisted hollowly. 

“This family doesn’t do few things, so you shouldn’t feel too badly,” his oldest insisted. Alister was 36 years old, and looked just like his father save for his sandy brown hair, clipped closely to his square-shaped head. “You know what they say-there’s one in every family.” 

His father growled lowly and banged his fist on his glass end table. “This family shouldn’t have one!” He yelled. “This family doesn’t do failure!” The room fell silent, until a soft voice piped up. 

“It’s okay, Father. It’s okay. Just one bad apple doesn’t mean the entire batch is bad, does it?” 

30 year old Eleanor possessed soft brown hair with eyes of matching color, and those eyes currently gazed upon her father tenderly. She was the favorite child, and she could calm their father like nobody else could. Indeed, the old man calmed down and smiled at his favorite daughter. 

“You’re right, Ellie,” he agreed. “It doesn’t mean the whole batch is bad.” 

“What’re we going to do?” His youngest son asked. 

“Something must be done,” pushed his second youngest daughter. 

Jameson and Susanne were 26 years old, and the second youngest. They were twins, and often were connected-they agreed all the time, they finished each other’s sentences and shared the same dark brown hair and green eyes. They could be just as demanding as their oldest sister and it was especially effective considering they were always together.

“Another day, maybe?” Franklin suggested. He was commonly considered the morally weakest of the family due to his people pleasing, but they knew him to be tactful. 

The father shook his head. “No, Franklin. They’re right. This must be dealt with. We cannot put it off any longer. This must be dealt with today.”

The father of the family was Joseph Springfield. He was widely successful, and was well known for his many careers and endeavours. His children were all equally as successful as he was, living successful lives with successful careers. With the exception of one. The bad apple. The black sheep they’d been talking about for an hour. Whom they didn’t know had been right outside the door listening. Whom chose to burst into her family office with a manic grin and wild eyes. 

“I love this!” She proclaimed, waving her arms in front of her startled and surprised family. “I. LOVE. THIS.” She pointed at her twin brother and sister. “I love this!” She pointed at her older sister, her older brother, her oldest sister and her oldest brother. “I love this,” she repeated in a low tone, pointing at her father, narrowing her eyes. “I love how hypocritical you all are.” 

Her entire family gasped like she’d announced she’d killed their mother. “You all act like you’re so perfect. So model. So FREAKING normal,” she announced. “Well, we ALL know, N-O-R-M-A-L isn’t the WORD for this family! You all act like we can’t do SPESH-ALL things! Like shoot lasers out of our eyes and hands!” A wild glance thrown at Alister. “Or be able to mimic any voice you hear only once!” A pointed glance at the now-terrified Eleanor. “Or be able to read the minds of any person you kiss!” The twins grew noticeably uncomfortable. “OR be able to create illusions!” Constantina glared fiercely at her youngest sister. “And, and, and and and and and AND-” the girl stalked up to her father, pointing at him, “the powerful power of persuasion so you can get. Whatever. You. WANT.”

Joseph glared at his youngest daughter. “What do you want?” he asked her coldly. He jumped at the sound of her screechy laughter. 

“NOTHING! Not one LITTLE, thing, Daddy,” she said, touching her father’s impressive mustache, causing him to slap her hand away. “I know all of you ‘successes’ want me off. I want me off, too. BUT. I live with me! So I can’t leave, but with me. I’m off. As much as I don’t want to give any of you yuckies anything, I’m giving you THE GIFT of me leaving you, forever! And I won’t miss any of you! I’m gonna run away and never see any of you again!” With one more burst of unsettling yet genuine laughter that could be heard on the ground from the third floor office, she ran from the room, flew down the rails of the stairs, past the terrified staff, and out the door of the mansion. 

She didn’t stop running. Her mind didn’t tell her she could, so she ran and ran and ran. She ran out of the rural town her family’s mansion was located in, past the confused, frightened and agitated citizens who were out doing work or enjoying the day with their young children on summer vacation. One pair of children, a boy and a girl of about 4 years, tried to touch her skirt when she ran by, but their parents hastily grabbed them away from her and glared after her. 

She ran for days, on long stretches of roads past busy travelers. On the fourth day of running a a policeman’s vehicle lit up its sirens and sounded its alarms. She didn’t give it any mind, and she continued to run. 

“Stop!” The driver’s voice shouted from a microphone, and she continued to give it no mind as she ran off. “Stop or I’ll have to shoot you!”

The word ‘you’ got her attention, and she finally stopped for the first time in days. Her legs screamed and were bruised but she couldn’t feel it. Her lungs burned but she didn’t notice at all. Her attention was drawn to the loud vehicle pulling to a stop forward-behind her. The vehicle was facing her, and she it, but she was facing backwards instead of forwards. 

Somebody got out of the car. They were in their middle ages, and possessed a lean yet sagged figure like they’d taken care of themself but they didn’t care what for. Their almond shaped brown eyes were weary and lined with bags, like they hadn’t known a good night’s sleep for at least two days. Their dark blue uniform was crinkled from continuous sitting, and the badge over their left breast read  **CHENG** in big, important letters.

“Young lady,” the light yet throaty voice said to her, “are you okay? Why are you running down this road?”

She didn’t answer them. She was far too drawn to their golden star, and reached for it. 

“Where’s your home?” the Cheng person continued. “Do you have parents? Or anybody that can come and help you?”

“How’d-how’d-how’d you do it?” she asked, reaching for the golden star, nearly in her grasp, but the Cheng person backed away.

“Do what, miss?” they asked pleasantly, but there was a confused undertone. 

“You did it,” she said, “you’ve caught a star. People have-have tried for YEARS. They’ve tried. You’ve done it. How?” 

It registered to Officer Cheng that this girl wasn’t like others, mentally. They returned to their vehicle as she followed, trying to grasp their badge, and reached for their radio. “Hello? We got a 1096 on 54,” they said to their station. “I’m gonna need help.”

“Copy that. Backup is on their way,” the dispatcher said, and the line went dead. Cheng went back to the girl, and tapped their badge. 

“You like it, miss?” they asked.

“I like it be-because you got it,” she replied. “You’ve caught a star. How’d you do it? Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell-”

“OKAY! I got it, because,” Cheng unclipped the badge, and held it up for her to see, “I earned it.” 

The girl’s already massive eyes-which possessed such dark irises they realized that they couldn’t see her pupils-went impossibly wider. “How?” she whispered. “How? Tell me, tell me how you did it.”

“I earned it,” Cheng said. They gently handed her the badge, and she turned it over in awe in her small hands. The star was heavier than she thought. 

“You did,” she said, not asking a question but stating a fact. “You really did.” She looked up at Cheng and smiled. Her lips were a ghostly pink. “You deserve to be a star.” She reached over and put her right index and middle fingers on Cheng’s forehead, and they allowed the fingers to stay. “You should be a star. You should go to the moon. Go to the sky, and be with all your other star friends.”

The officer’s brown eyes went wide and shiny. “I will go to the moon,” they promised. “I will go where I belong.”

The girl grinned, and placed the badge in the officer’s hand and closed their fingers around it. “Go.” 

With an unconscious nod, Cheng got back in their car and drove away. Still grinning, the girl resumed her running towards the setting sun.

A few hours later, Aiden Cheng’s body was found, bare and bruised and bloodied and broken, in their garden. They’d jumped off the roof of their house at midnight, and their eyes were found glassed over and unusually bright, like two stars.

*

It had been a week, and she was starving. She couldn’t recall a time she’d felt hungrier. It was the only thing that’d slowed her run to a walk, then her walk to a trudge, then her trudge to a limp. 

The bright lights and massive buildings attracted her. “A spaceship,” she breathed, limping towards it. As she limped, the lights got brighter and almost blinded her. There were so many sounds and they drowned her out, almost, if she hadn’t had lifelong training to be louder than them all. 

“Hey! Hey missy! You missy!”

Her head turned, and she saw a greasy old man with a grey-white beard and smelling of tobacco. His grin was foul, too, like he intended to do horrible things to her, and a crooked finger beckoned her to him.

Of course, she had absolutely no regard for her own safety and she approached him. “Sir? Where am I? Have I wandered into a great spaceship?” she asked him.

The man laughed, and his laugh was like breaking glass. “Sure, girly, sure, this is spaceship,” he agreed, eyeing her skirt. “Say, how’d you like to have some fun, with me?” His shrimpy eyes, the color of a dirty Sprite bottle, gleamed at her. 

She grinned back. “Sure! Do you-you know what WOULD BE A BARRELS OF MONKEYS EATING SALT?” she laughed. “IF you’d EAT YOURSELF TILL YOU WERE NOTHING BUT A HEAD!” She laughed so loudly, it scared off the rats and stray dogs and cats in the alleyway.

The man’s eyes went wide. “Yes, that’d be lots of fun,” he agreed. The girl grinned, and skipped off until her leg gave out from hunger. She continued to drag herself along, until a bright yellow light attracted her like she was a mosquito. 

**BART’S** , the orange sign read importantly. She saw the open door, and crawled in, and immediately her mouth watered.

Rows and rows of delicious food. Chips, candy, soda, anything she wanted to eat. And she wanted to eat it all. So she did. She crawled over to a chip rack and grabbed a pack of cheesy tortilla chips and ripped the bag open with her teeth, consuming the deliciousness inside and settling the gnawing in her belly. 

“HEY! You can’t do that!” 

She was almost startled out of her eating by the loud, commanding voice, and she looked up and saw a plump woman of about her father’s age. Her black hair was tied into a bun, her brown eyes glared at her, and her olive face was wrinkled like leather. The girl thought she was beautiful, and continued to eat.

“Young lady,” The woman commanded her, “you cannot do that!”

“Why not? It’s food, and you eat food,” the girl stated matter-of-factly.

“You haven’t paid for it!” The woman snapped. “Bailey, get her out of here!”

“Yes ma’am,” a tired voice said, and a young woman emerged. The girl stopped eating at the sight of her. She was tall and bony, and had long fingers. Her skin was ebony colored, her face scattered with freckles, and she had thick, curly hair underneath her  **BART’S** hat, and sad brown eyes lined with bags. 

She was the most beautiful thing Natalie had ever seen. 

“Ma’am, please pay for the chips, and please leave,” the young woman said tiredly, not touching her. 

“Ugh, she smells horrible,” the woman snarked. “Like she hasn’t bathed in weeks. She’s probably homeless. If you don’t leave, I’ll have you arrested, you hear me?!”

The girl looked at the woman. She noticed how nice she smelled. Like peony flowers and strawberries. “You smell very nice,” she said pleasantly. “You are the nicest smelling person I’ve ever met.” 

The woman, whose name badge read  **HI, I’M CARMEN** , raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Imagine if you thought you smelled really, really, really badly,” she continued, eating her chips. “But you smelled good. But you thought you smelled bad. You thought everyone was lying to you if they said you smelled good. You thought you smelled bad.”

Carmen’s eyes went wide, and her nostrils flared. “Bailey, you close the store, I have to go home now,” she said quickly, wrinkling her nose. “I just noticed how horrible I smell.”

Bailey’s eyes went wide. “Ma’am, you smell fine,” she tried, eyeing the girl eating chips on the floor and smiling. 

“Don’t you lie to me,” Carmen snapped, but more out of insecurity than anger. “Just do it. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, she grabbed her purse and ran out. 

Bailey looked at the girl sitting on the floor, and she felt strange all of a sudden. In her year of working for the convenience store, she’d never met anyone like this. Sure, people had robbed the store multiple times, and stolen from it, but nobody had ever just eaten chips without paying or sat there on the floor. Or scared off Carmen, the woman with no fear. 

“Um, miss, you have to go, I’m closing up shop,” she said nervously. “Don’t worry about your chips, you can have them. I’ll pay for them.”

The girl looked at her like she was the Messiah and her chip-filled mouth fell open. “Really?” she asked in disbelief.

“Really really,” Bailey assured her quickly. “Just go. I got this.” 

The girl got off the floor and hugged her tightly, encasing her in her stench. She really did smell horrible, Carmen was right. “Thank you. You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met,” she declared, not letting go until she pushed her off. Her grin remained, and she skipped out of the store.

Bailey just wanted to go home for the night, and so she paid for Crazy’s (her nickname for the girl) chips and locked up shop, just as she said, and grabbed her bag. Her apartment was only ten minutes away, and she ran the whole way home. She didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until she’d locked her door and leaned against it. Her mind clouded over with exhaustion and all she wanted to do was sleep.

Until two soft knocks were heard at her door and her heart dropped into her stomach. Her apartment door didn’t have a peephole, only a cheap, flimsy chain, so with great reluctance she opened the door.

“Hi! I live here now!” The girl from the convenience store said, grinning impossibly wide. “Let me in, please.” And Bailey let her in. She went and plopped down in the middle of the thin carpet which was desperately in need of vacuuming.

“So...uh, what’s your name?” Bailey asked, rubbing her neck. “I’m Bailey Campbell. If I had friends that’s what they’d call me.”

“You do have a friend! ME!” the girl grinned. “My name’s Natalie.”

*

Natalie was 17 years old, Bailey quickly found out. She’d insisted that she bathe. Her black hair stunk to high heaven and her skin was grimy and dirty. She’d stripped naked in the middle of Bailey’s living room, and skipped to her bathroom, leaving her filthy clothing to stink on her floor. She reluctantly picked it up and put it away in her hamper, making a note of it to have it taken down the next day for cleaning.

Natalie took the world’s shortest shower with the hottest available water, and emerged from the steam-filled bathroom naked as the day she was born, dripping water everywhere as she laughed and shook off her wet hair. 

“Natalie, please, take a towel,” Bailey insisted, holding out her cleanest one. “I don’t want water all over the place.”

Natalie looked at the offered towel, and she nodded quickly, taking it and using it to dry herself off. When she dried her hair off, Bailey noticed her eyes were a deep shade of violet. 

“Why’d you follow me home?” Bailey asked, somehow sure Natalie wouldn’t kill her. 

“I live here,” she stated obviously. Now that her skin was clean, she could see it was very pale, almost ghostly. This girl only possessed color in her eyes and hair. 

“No, you don’t,” Bailey tried, “I live here.”

Natalie cocked her head, confused, as she dropped the towel to the floor. Her rail-thin body glistened with wiped-off water and her hair was stringy with wetness and dryness. Her eyes, seemingly lacking pupils, stared at him, into Bailey’s soul, she felt. 

“Sure, you live here,” she agreed with a sage-like nod, “but so do I.” 

Bailey felt like slamming her head against the door. She tried one more time. “I live here. You live somewhere else.” 

Natalie let out a sigh as if  _ Bailey _ was frustrating her, instead of the other way around. “We live together,” she explained patiently. Her newfound patience ignited Bailey’s ire, but she pushed it down as she usually did. She just drew a breath and her posture went limp.

“Look, I don’t care anymore,” she sighed, “are you gonna murder me or anything?”

Natalie’s pupil-less eyes went impossibly wide. “No,” she whispered, horrified, shaking her head. “No. Why would I do that?” Her horror caught Bailey  off-guard, but she shook her head.

“I don’t care,” she repeated. “Just...do you. I’ve got work in the morning, so I’m going to bed.” 

Natalie waved her hand and cracked a wide smile. “Sleep well, Bradley!” she called. 

“Bailey,” she corrected her tiredly, “night.” She walked off to the bed in the middle of the studio apartment, collapsed into it without even changing out of her uniform, and fell asleep, dead to the world. She truly didn’t care about the young woman sitting, naked, in the middle of her apartment. Her presence would not change anything, Bailey reasoned.

*

Bailey Campbell was 19 years old. She’d moved to this city last year in hopes of becoming an artist, but she so far was having lots of trouble just surviving. Her convenience store job paid for just this apartment’s monthly rent, and she relied on food banks and dumpster diving. In one year, her optimism had shattered, she’d lost her sense of direction and was rapidly growing hopeless. 

Her mother’s mockery rang in her ears often:  _ You think you can be an artist? You’ll be dead in a month, baby. I’ll mourn you, and your stupidity. _

Her father opted for more sympathy than his wife:  _ Hon, I know you wanna be an artist, but art as we know it is dying. Take a job in your uncle’s business, secure yourself a comfortable living. Art can be your passion. _

Bailey ignored both of her parents. She  _ knew _ she could make it as an artist. 

Or so she thought. Only a few of her paintings had sold online over the past few months despite the high praise from her 2,000 Instagram followers. Praise wasn’t enough to pay rent or fill her stomach or buy art supplies. 

Bailey’s hopelessness was rapidly growing, and her only respites were art and sleeping.

-

Natalie wandered around the small apartment. She’d watched Bailey sleep for over an hour, but now it was just after 2 am and she wanted to do something else. She looked out of the window and saw her reflection stare back at her, but her attention was drawn to the bright lights of the city. She’d never seen anything so beautiful-outside of Bailey, of course. She’d lived most her life in a rural area with only herself for company. Natalie grown bored of her own company and wanted more. Plus, she got the stark feeling her family didn’t particularly enjoy her company. It was time for her to make her own way in life. 

Natalie wondered if this was the city her family often discussed. It’d have to be, right? Or maybe city was a type of alcohol. Most of the people in her family were terrible drunks. Natalie shook her head. Alcohol sucked. She preferred apple juice. As if on cue, Natalie’s stomach growled loudly. 

“What? You need more?” Natalie said to her stomach, “I fed you! Oh, okay, I’ll do it again! Yeesh! Why do I even need to eat? Other than for pleasure?” She did not understand how a human’s body worked. She wished she was born a unicorn. Rhyme! Wandering over to Bailey’s kitchenette, she found the fridge and opened it. To her delight, she found the desired food-a half-eaten burrito! She loved burritos! Taking it into her hands, she gobbled it up, giggling to herself. She was really smart. The burrito was extremely tasty and she enjoyed it immensely. She found a can of Coke in and drank that too. It bubbled nicely in her body, and she felt the bubbles dance into her brain. It gave her an idea, she felt.

Natalie was new to friends in general, and wanted to do something nice for Bailey, since she was allowing Natalie to live with her. She remembered how her family showed their affection for their friends by buying them expensive gifts, but she pouted when she remembered how her oldest brother mocked her for it. 

“They’re not friends, my moronic little sister, they’re  _ business associates _ ,” he had insisted. In response, Natalie had thumped him on the head and given him a nasty bruise. After brushing off the buying gifts thing, Natalie remembered how a nervous yet kindly maid of the household had once told her that the best gifts came from one’s heart. Touching her chest, a big smile broke across Natalie’s pale face, and she left to implement her idea.

*

Seven am arrived too soon for Bailey, and she managed to throw an arm and crush her alarm off. In doing so, her hand hit a foreign object that felt strangely like plastic and it made a small sound.

“Hey! Watch it you silly goose!” A tinkly-bell like voice cried, and Bailey startled awake. There was the strange girl whom she met last night at Bart’s, and who was still naked from last night’s shower. She was carefully picking something off the floor, and Bailey squinted her sunlit-eyes to see a bunch of dandelions, daisies and black-eyed Susan’s on the thin carpet, along with a plastic cup and some liquid on her side-table and on the carpet. 

“What...what is this?” Bailey asked groggily, sitting up, and when she did, her cap fell off. 

“I got you a present!” Natalie said proudly, lifting up her “present” like it was made of gold. It was lopsided from Bailey’s accidental attack on it, and Bailey frowned. It was childish and messy, but for some reason...she liked it, and there was a strange pulling at her heart. Lifting a hand, she reached for the cup of wildflowers, and Natalie excitedly yet carefully handed it to her. The sun caught the sides of the moistened cup. A cheap, flimsy red ribbon was wrapped around it. 

“...Thanks.” Despite herself, Bailey smiled a tiny bit. Her frown returned quickly when she remembered Natalie’s nudity. “How and when did you get this?”

“I got it like two hours ago,” Natalie said nonchalantly, “there’s a really nice field behind this place, have you ever been there? It’s perfect for a picnic or maybe a farm. A puppy farm!”

Bailey sighed, sitting up, carefully setting her “gift” on her bedside table. “Listen, you can’t go out like that,” she gestured to Natalie’s nakedness, “anymore. Did anybody see you?”

A wave of shiny black hair hit Bailey’s clothed knee as Natalie shook her head. “Nopers, I was the only one, so I knew it was perfect timing to get your gift!” Leaning in closely, she whispered, “I didn’t want anyone stealing it! It’s for you, and you only!” She gave Bailey’s knee a cheerful pat yet her eyes held a serious look. As if the flowers were of the rarest kind instead of commonplace. Bailey rolled her eyes but her heart kept the strange feeling. 

“Thanks, but you can’t go outside naked.” 

“Why not?” Natalie asked, her eyes innocently curious as if it didn’t register why going outside at five in the morning to pick flowers was illegal. 

“It’s illegal to be naked outside,” Bailey explained tiredly. 

“Why?” She blinked in confusion. “You’re always naked under your clothes.” 

“I know. It’s just illegal to be naked in public,” Bailey said, getting off her bed. “I need to shower. You...do you, but just don’t go outside naked again, okay?”

“Okay!” Natalie said cheerfully, waving as Bailey headed into the bathroom. Bailey only rolled her eyes again and shut the door.

Even as she stripped and showered, her heart kept the warm feeling. Was she...touched by Natalie’s gift to her?  _ That can’t be it, right? _ She thought as she cleaned her hair.  _ I haven’t even known her a day, and she followed me home! For all I know she’s some murderer! But if she wanted me dead, she would’ve killed me...right?  _ Uncertainties of her new, unfolding situation flooded Bailey and her heart grew heavier. Just who was this girl who followed her home last night? And why was Bailey allowing her to stay?

Bailey just truly didn’t care if Natalie was there. 

_

Patiently, Natalie waited for Bailey to get out of the shower so she could eat her breakfast. That’s right, she also got her new friend breakfast. As those tv commercials used to say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day! It was just a sandwich she’d borrowed from a sleeping neighbor, but she was sure the neighbor and bird understood Bailey needed the food more. Bailey didn’t have a lot of food, and she needed to eat. She’d also gotten Bailey some water from a nearby pond. Pond water was usually fresh. In Natalie’s opinion, it was a nutritious and filling breakfast.

_

Bailey didn’t scream seeing the bird corpse in her fridge, she jumped back and gasped, putting a hand over her heart. It was a pigeon and its red eyes were still open. 

“Natalie?” Bailey asked slowly.

“Yeppers, Bailey?” Natalie asked cheerfully, coming up behind her. “You need help with that?” She gestured with her head to the bird. 

“...Why is there a dead pigeon in my fridge?” Bailey asked with great self-control. 

“It’s company! Breakfast company! Is our guest being disruptive?” Natalie asked seriously. 

“No. No, it’s dead. I want it out, now,” Bailey ordered with as much steel as she could muster. She was still focused on the dead bird, which Natalie lifted out with her bare hands. “Not with your bare hands! You could get rabies or something! It’s a city pigeon! It’s filthy!” Quickly, Bailey threw Natalie a kitchen towel and the younger girl caught it with her foot, reaching up to her hands to wrap the bird’s corpse in it. Wrapping it like a baby, she carried it to the window and threw the wrapped bird outside of it, towel and corpse and all. 

Bailey merely sighed. This was going to be a very long day. She noticed a sandwich above where the bird had been, and frowned. She didn’t remember getting or making a sandwich. 

“That’s your breakfast,” Natalie said, seemingly reading her mind, coming up to her.

“Wash your hands,” Bailey snapped, “I don’t want you spreading disease or you to get sick.”  _ Why did I say that? _

Natalie shot her a wide, sunny grin, one that shook Bailey’s whole body, and she stopped short. 

“Okay friend! I’ll take another shower! I’ll be so clean sickness will bounce right off me!” With that, she skipped to the bathroom and happily slammed the door, singing nonsensical tunes. 

Bailey meanwhile was stunned in the middle of her kitchenette, repeating her past words to herself.  _ Why would I tell her I don’t want her to get sick? _ She thought,  _ why should I care if that freak gets sick? She’s literally a stranger to me. She followed me home!  _ During the course of Bailey’s thoughts and eating her potentially stolen sandwich (roast beef and white American cheese), Natalie took another extremely short shower with chilly water, and came out of the bathroom shivering slightly but smiling brightly. Her body glistened and her hair dripped. 

“All done! I’m clean! CLEAN I TELL YOU!” She grinned, snapping her fingers by her sides. Why, Bailey had no idea, but she found herself going to her bed and pulling the comforter off it. Natalie’s eyes widened as Bailey approached with the blanket outstretched in her hands. “Are you intending to capture me?!” she asked loudly.

“Just, stay still for a sec,” Bailey snapped, wrapping Natalie in the blanket, and immediately the younger girl’s shivers subsided. Natalie’s eyes became even wider and she stared at Bailey in awe. “What?” Bailey was caught off guard by Natalie jumping on her, wrapping her arms around her. 

“Thank you,” she murmured in the softest voice Bailey had heard her speak since they met, and when Bailey looked into her eyes, they were full of gratitude. Bailey was struck.  _ All I did was give her a blanket! _

“Uh...sure,” Bailey said, unsure, and awkwardly patted Natalie’s arm until she let go, still smiling brightly. Bailey noticed the blanket had fallen off her body and onto the floor, so she leaned over, picked it up and wrapped it around Natalie, tighter this time. As she was doing this, Natalie let out a cute little yawn, squeezing her eyes shut. “Hey, how much sleep did you get last night, by the way?” By the confused look Natalie gave her, her mind translated it to “none”. “Okay, I gotta go to work, but here, come here.” She took hold of Natalie’s shoulders and guided her to the bed, and gently pushed her down until she was on her side. “You sleep as long as you need to, okay?”

Natalie hummed in agreement, settling into her new blanket. “When will you be back?” she asked, before shooting up in alarm. “You are coming back, right?!”

Bailey rolled her eyes. “I live here, of course I’m coming back. I’ll be back around 7.” 

“Okay, I’ll wait for you,” Natalie agreed, settling back down, “I won’t sleep until you-” as soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep. Bailey couldn’t help chuckling as she patted Natalie’s wet head before she grabbed her bag and left for work. She couldn’t help but admit to herself that Natalie was sort of cute. The very thought of it made her groan.  _ That freak better not be growing on me. I haven’t even known her for a day! _

Despite this train of thought, Bailey didn’t even think twice about grabbing dinner for two that night from the gas station. Carmen hadn’t shown up, and apparently quit her job that day. 

Natalie’s smile made dinner that night...pleasant. 

_

A few months passed. Bailey had long grown used to Natalie’s presence, and couldn’t deny the fact she actually liked the freaky girl. Her nonsensical comments and unique way of thinking spiced up Bailey’s life. Unconsciously, she served as the primary inspiration for Bailey’s art, and Bailey’s pieces were selling better than ever before. Now they could afford little luxuries every now and again, such as coffees or flowers or music to dance to. 

Natalie had tried to work. Her first job was petsitting the neighbor’s puppy, but the puppy unfortunately ran out after Natalie “set it free” and was run over. It took everything for Bailey to convince the neighbor that it was a complete accident. And it was. Natalie didn’t know any better. Bailey chocked it up to Natalie having some sort of severe mental illness. It did badly shake her up, as Natalie tearfully explained, “I’m not like you.” Bailey had just attempted to comfort her.

Since that day, Bailey provided for the two of them. Natalie just did Natalie. This little arrangement worked well for them both. One day, the topic of family came up for them during a dinner of Chinese takeout. 

“My parents don’t really believe art is a career,” Bailey explained over a meal of orange chicken. “They kept trying to discourage me from this. But I don’t give up. Maybe that’s my problem.”

Natalie looked up from the sweet and sour sauce she was drinking. “No. No no no no no. NO. Never give up,” she said fiercely, her eyes holding an intense look. “Behind you, your art is the prettiest thing ever! Plus one of the tastiest!” Bailey blushed at Natalie’s compliment, but grimaced remembering the day the younger girl ate one of her portraits trying to “make her insides pretty”. 

“What about you? What’s your family like?” Bailey asked to take attention off her. 

Natalie hummed over her sweet and sour sauce. “I have a father,” she said, “like most. I have five older brothers and sisters. I’m pretty sure my family doesn’t want me around. Well joke’s on them, I don’t want  _ them _ around!” Her grin was tinged red.

Bailey felt unusual anger at Natalie’s family. “Why? Why don’t they want you around?”

Natalie shrugged, eating one grain of rice at a time. “They’re special,” she said, “but they pretend they aren’t. They all have these powers, each of them, and they use them all the time to make themselves happy. Like my daddy. He can tell anybody anything and they’ll do it. So don’t talk to him. He does lots of bad things.” She looked at Bailey through her rice.

“Sounds like your dad’s just a good businessman, I don’t know if-”

“Nope. He uses his voice. My twin bro and sis can read the minds of anybody they kiss. My oldest sister can create illusions. One of my brothers shoots lasers. You get the picture.”

Truthfully, Bailey  _ didn’t _ , but she got the distinct, dreadful feeling that Natalie  _ wasn’t _ lying. “And...do you have powers, Natalie?” She asked with hesitation.

Natalie looked up from the rice. “I don’t know?” She asked back, as if  _ Bailey  _ could tell her. “My family kept saying that I’m not special.”

Bailey scoffed. “So did mine.”

“Mine still does.”

“So does mine.”

Both girls paused in their eating, and kept their focuses on their food. They realized they perhaps weren’t very different. Bailey sighed. Natalie sighed. 

“Fortune cookie?” Bailey offered to break the sudden, heavy tension, and Natalie popped it into her mouth without breaking it. Bailey giggled. “Not like that. Look.” She broke hers to reveal the little paper. Natalie’s eyes widened, and she scrambled for another, which Bailey granted. “Now we read it. Mine says, ‘You will be prosperous as long as you believe.’”  _ Yeah, right, _ she scoffed internally. “What does yours say?”

Natalie squinted at hers. “‘So long as you’ve got a friend by your side, you will be successful.’” Her purple eyes widened. “These papers...they predict the future!” She smiled widely. “Or the now.” 

At her core, Bailey couldn’t but agree. She fed Natalie part of her fortune cookie.

_

“Tomorrow’s my birthday,” Natalie mentioned offhandedly one Thursday a few more months later, just as Bailey finished getting ready for bed. “I’ll be 18 tomorrow.”

Bailey froze. She hadn’t been aware it’d been Natalie’s birthday at all, and hadn’t even gotten her a thing for it. “I-I see,” she swallowed. Natalie merely smiled brightly as she wished Bailey a goodnight and promptly turned over and fell asleep. 

The two had taken to sharing the bed. Bailey found herself surprisingly agreeable to this new arrangement after one too many nights of waking up and finding Natalie either awake and staring at her or asleep and snoring/drooling. Bailey lay awake listening to Natalie’s soft breaths. She had to get her something. Everyone deserved something for their birthday. Even Bailey’s parents sent money and little trinkets and her coworkers usually got her a card and some treats. Natalie never discussed her birthdays, and from her unclear yet clear descriptions of her family, her birthdays were not an occasion they cared about celebrating. It’s like they wanted her to cease existing. Bailey shook her head, refusing give Natalie’s neglectful family any thought any longer. They didn’t deserve it. What Natalie deserved was to have her 18th birthday celebrated. 

Bailey glanced over at Natalie, sleeping the night away without care. Looking at her, she remembered her own, 20th birthday a couple of months ago. Even though Natalie had nothing of her own saved for the outfit she’d arrived in, she still managed to get Bailey a gift. She wrote a poem on tissue paper, gathered flowers from a garden somewhere and tied them off with a ribbon she found somewhere. She also made Bailey a ring made of cheap metal with a plastic snail-snails were lucky, said Natalie.

Since that day Bailey only took the ring off to sleep and shower. Even now, it sat on her bedside table, moonlight shining on it like it was blessed.

_ I have to get her something. _

The next morning, Bailey did something she never did since moving to the city.

She called into work sick.

-

Natalie was a wild card. That’s how she was. Her sleeping habits reflected this. She either slept for days and nights or was awake for days and nights. Unfortunately for Bailey it was the former today, and as much as she hated to, she needed to wake her up. So she did, by gently shaking her shoulder and saying her name softly so she wouldn’t be startled.

Natalie blinked sleepily, yawning and stretching. She was naked as she was for half the time. She had only left the apartment once in all of their time together, for the petsitting fiasco. After that she never left, until today that is. (Bailey didn’t even care that a naked girl slept in her bed most nights. Some nights she slept on the windowsill.) 

“Good morning,” Bailey smiled, “happy birthday.”

“Thank you, morning,” she murmured sleepily, rubbing her eyes. “Why am I up so early?” Her eyes widened and she dropped her hand. “What, aren’t you supposed to be at the tasty shack?”

“I have the day off,” Bailey smiled a bit wider, “I called in sick. I need you to get up, okay? Get up, shower, get dressed. I’m taking you out for your birthday.”

Natalie blinked. Then her face broke into an impossibly wide grin. “OKAY! SOUNDS LIKE A UNICORN CHOMPING ON POTS OF LEPRECHAUN GOLD! I’LL GO GET READY RIGHT NOW DON’T LEAVE WITHOUT ME!” As she yelled, she ran off to the shower, before halting right in her tracks and cranking her neck in a way that would be painful if it weren’t her. Her huge eyes somehow got bigger and her jaw hit the floor as she took in Bailey.

To her, Bailey was always beautiful. She wore a red dress with a swishy skirt, with a matching flower in her hair and red converse on her feet.

Natalie thought she was about to die. Bailey looked ravishingly beautiful. Beautifully ravishing.

“Why’re you staring, silly?” Bailey asked, smiling somewhat shyly.

Suddenly Natalie turned bright red, and turned away like a shy teenager. “Y-you look so beautiful I thought you were a goddess,” she said, “but not like you’re _ not _ a goddess right?”

“Shower, Natalie,” Bailey ordered with a point of her left index finger. 

“Yes goddess-I mean ma’am-I MEAN BAILEY I’M SORRY!” With that, Natalie ran into the bathroom, where she couldn’t see Bailey’s blushing face.

-

True to Bailey’s word, she took Natalie out for a whole day. For breakfast, the two enjoyed smoothies from a smoothie shop the city was somewhat famous for. Natalie requested a banana and strawberry smoothie so thick, it was like raw bananas and raw strawberries. Bailey merely smiled and sipped her blueberry smoothie to completion.

Next, she took Natalie to a pet shop to pet all of the puppies and kittens, and they spent an hour there. They were only kicked out when Natalie decided the puppies and kittens should be friends and set them together. Apparently, the pet shop staff didn’t like it as much as the animals surprisingly did and kicked them out.

Afterwards, they took lunch out of a fast food joint and ate it in the park, where Natalie discovered the joys of chocolate milkshakes and dragonflies. Bailey enjoyed how delighted she look as she consumed her shake and as the dragonflies landed on her nose and in her hair. 

After lunch came flower crowns. Bailey loved making flower crowns as a little girl and Natalie had never made one, so Bailey taught her with patience and they made each other one. 

Natalie’s shaking hands accepted the one Bailey made for her. “T-this is...amazing,” she gasped as she placed it on her head. “I’ll never take it off.” She handed Bailey the one she made for her. It was messy and lopsided but Bailey set it on her head and wore it confidently. 

Wearing their new flower crowns, they took a long stroll through the city. Bailey bought Natalie and herself ice cream cones, and while they walked and ate, Natalie took her hand. Bailey nearly stopped, but she decided to let it go. Together, they held hands walking through the city, and once Natalie realized Bailey wasn’t letting go, she swung their hands and hummed a merry tune that caught Bailey’s ear.

It was nearing dinner time when their walk ended, and Natalie wanted Chinese for dinner, so they picked up dinner from their usual Chinese place and went back to the apartment, where they ate, complete with cheerful chatter. 

“This is the greatest birthday and anniversary I’ve ever had!” Natalie declared after dinner was over. 

“Anniversary?” Bailey repeated. Natalie’s messy hair bobbed as she nodded.

“Yep! One year ago today I met you!” 

Time seemingly froze.

_ I didn’t even realize we’ve been together a year already, _ Bailey thought. She noticed Natalie’s favorite part of the meal-the fortune cookies-was left untouched. “Hey Natalie, why didn’t you eat your fortune cookies? I got you extra,” she said, offering one slightly. Natalie smiled, but it was a different sort of smile for her. It was wide-typical of her-but it was soft and gentle. Full of understanding.

“Why would I need that? I’m fortunate enough already! I guess it’s because of how many of ‘em I’ve eaten, huh?” She giggled.

Time froze again. Bailey realized her previous thought.  _ I thought of us as  _ _ together _ _. _

_ I thought of us as together. _ Swallowing, she got up from the table. “I’ll be right back, okay? I need to grab something,” she said quickly, grabbing her wallet and tucking it into her pocket. “I’ll be just 15 minutes if that.” Natalie merely waved cheerfully, staring after Bailey as she left the apartment. 

The whole trip, the words  _ together _ and  _ us _ rang in Bailey’s head, her own words ringing ceaselessly in her ears. The whole trip she thought of nothing but Natalie, and their time together. Sleeping, eating, talking, dancing to music. It all went so fast. 

A realization hit Bailey and her eyes went wide and she gasped and stopped outside of her apartment door. 

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into her apartment, where Natalie sat and a bunch of empty fortune cookie wrappers and their discarded paper messages scattered the table.

“Hey Bailey!” She waved, her mouth full. Swallowing it down, she heard the crinkling of plastic behind Bailey’s back, and her eyes narrowed curiously yet playfully like a cat stalking a toy. “What’s that?” 

“It’s your birthday gift,” she said, stepping over to the counter and taking her gift out of it. It was from Bart’s, but luckily it was her chill coworker Dylan working and he kept her visit quiet from the boss. “It’s not much but I thought of you.” She turned around and handed Natalie a bag of cheddar tortilla chips, a candy bar, and a single rose. 

Natalie gasped like she was being handed the world’s biggest sapphire. Her eyes never left her gifts, and she hugged them to her chest.

“Thank you,” she whispered, looking into Bailey’s eyes. Bailey smiled softly.

“I need to tell you something Natalie,” she said, taking Natalie’s shoulders into her hands. 

“What is it Bailey?” the younger girl asked. 

Poetry wasn’t Bailey’s thing, but she tried for Natalie. “When I met you...I thought I’d never see you ever again,” she confessed, “but I knew I’d never forget you. Then you followed me home and started living with me. I didn’t care if you were there. When you came, it was the lowest point of my life. I was ready for death. But,” Bailey swallowed nervously then smiled, “you changed that. You pulled me out of it. I’m glad you’re here. Hell, I’m glad you followed me home. I’m so glad.” She breathed. She and Natalie were locked in an eye embrace, as Natalie liked to call them. “Natalie, I love you.”

Time froze.

-

Natalie had loved Bailey the day she first saw her. Her love for Bailey never lessened, only increased. 

Standing before her, hearing Bailey’s declaration of love for her, Natalie felt like her heart stopped and she’d forgotten how to breathe. Her arms went limp, and she dropped her gifts to the floor. Without thinking, she launched herself into Bailey and they embraced tightly. When their embrace loosened, they looked into each other’s eyes and leaned in for their first kiss.

Natalie wanted her superpower to be to stop time, to make this moment last a lifetime.

-   
  
It was the best kiss of Bailey’s whole life. They only broke for air and Bailey leaned in for another. Natalie pushed her back, surprising her slightly.

”I love you, too,” Natalie said softly. “I aways have, and I always will.” Bailey smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

“But now you need to go,” Natalie said in the most serious voice Bailey had ever heard her speak in.

“What?” Bailey asked, thinking she hadn’t heard Natalie correctly. “What do you-”

“You need to go,  _ now _ ,” Natalie insisted insistingly, and she ran to Bailey’s art corner, grabbing her art portfolio. “You need to go, Bailey.” She shoved the portfolio into Bailey’s arms and started shoving her towards the apartment door. 

“What? Why?!” Bailey asked, spinning around, but Natalie’s shoves wouldn’t stop, and in fact they increased. “Why are you kicking me out of my apartment?  _ Our  _ apartment?” 

“You need to get your life started,” Natalie said, continuing her assault, “you need to become that amazing artist you were destined to be. You need to go and do that. You don’t need me for that.”

“What? Natalie, why are you doing this? I do need you! I need you! Believe me, Natalie. Please,” Bailey begged, tears pooling in her eyes, but Natalie’s eyes were cold and she kept shoving Bailey.

“No, no you don’t need me,” Natalie repeated, shoving her into the doorway. Throwing open the door, she shoved Bailey into the hall. “You never needed me, Bailey. The only thing you need is to go and do this.” With Bailey out in the hall, she slammed the door in her face. 

“No! Natalie! Natalie open the door! Let me in!” Bailey begged, dropping her portfolio and slamming on the door. “Natalie! Natalie!” She slammed until her palms hurt and she crumpled to the floor in tears.  _ Why? Why is she doing this? Why? _ Bailey cried. The love of her life just threw her out of the apartment and out of  _ her  _ life. 

Eventually, Bailey ran out of tears to cry. Gathering herself up off the floor, she picked up her portfolio and opted to take the stairs. Slowly she walked as she sniffled, wiping at her red eyes. As she walked, her thoughts and realizations became lighter. 

_ Wait...I’m going to become an amazing artist, just like Natalie said, _ she thought as she descended the staircases.  _ It’s time for me to get off my ass and actually make this happen! _ She smiled widely and for the first time in years, she felt her happiest. She was  _ free _ , and it was all thanks to Natalie. Speaking of, she opened her portfolio and looked at a drawing of Natalie licking a spoon. It was one of her favorites, and she smiled so hard looking at it.

She didn’t even see the car coming.

-

Natalie heard the screech of the car tires and the unmistakable sound of collision. Running to the window, she saw the black Jeep and noted how starkly it contrasted with the red dress on the ground. How starkly the dark scene contrasted with the beautiful evening sky, painted with orange and pink and cream and purple. The sun and the moon kissed, exchanging for the coming night.

“I set her free,” Natalie said simply. She ate her chips and candy bar and her rose. When her gifts were all gone, she walked to the center of the room and let out a deafening shriek.

A day later, Dylan came by to gather some of Bailey’s things for her parents when he found blood, guts, and a bloodied flower crown.

-

Joseph Springfield distributed the art of Bailey Campbell. Her art sold like ice cream on a scorching day, and once her tragic death was made public, the public mourned her. 

Taken before her prime!

She was so young!

Life can be completely unfair.

Her artwork sold and by the year anniversary of her death, on what would have been the 19th birthday of Joseph’s youngest daughter Natalie, it had made a million dollars.

I doubt Bailey would have cared. All she and Natalie cared for were each other.

I like to believe that they’re together. Entwined for eternity.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this as a Christmas present for my mom, but I liked it too much to leave it. Hope you liked it too!
> 
> Some notes:  
> Bailey is a trans woman. Natalie unknowingly deadnamed her on her first night at Bailey’s apartment. Bailey told her a couple of months later.   
> Aiden Cheng, the police officer who finds Natalie on the road, is non-binary.  
> The Springfield twins are in an incestuous relationship, which is why they finish each other’s sentences (they can read each other’s minds) and why they were uncomfortable about Natalie mentioning it. (Natalie is the only one who knows though.)  
> Natalie is insane, and her superpower is that she can turn anyone insane simply by talking. She however is unaware of her power because her family has always hated her. At the end, Natalie explodes her own mind to join Bailey in death.  
> Natalie unknowingly used her power multiple times in her life to help and save people. The only reason she was rude to Carmen was because Carmen insulted her. (Natalie does not like being insulted. She did not intend to hurt Carmen however.)  
> Carmen washed herself at least 5 times and applied deodorant and creams multiple times a day until Natalie died, and suddenly stopped. She doesn’t remember any of that. She now has another job running her own scented candle shop.  
> The reason the Springfields hate Natalie so much? Because she’s the most powerful of them all and could have easily destroyed them all.   
> All of the Springfield children (save for the twins, obviously) have different mothers.   
> Joseph Springfield has many more children all across the world. The children who are with him in the beginning are all part of his multi-billion dollar businesses.   
> Joseph and his family, save for Natalie, are evil. They do evil, corrupt and immoral things daily.  
> Franklin has the ability to manipulate crystal. I forgot to mention his power.  
> Natalie’s mother was a woman who discovered Joseph’s powers and how he runs his businesses, and when she threatened to go to the press about it, he killed her. Natalie was born as a result of the murder and this forced Joseph to keep her.  
> Natalie is 4’11”. The reason she’s short is due to being born prematurely.  
> Bailey is 5’9”.


End file.
